Who's the terrorist now?

Those bloody fanatics are at it again. "National Home", the radical right-wing organization at the forefront of the battle against the disengagement and responsible for most of the "civil disobedience" that we've been seeing (they make the Yesha Council look like a centrist group) have disrupted traffic and put innocent lives in danger this morning by spreading oil and nails on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway, sort of like an opening act for the planned afternoon event of blocking major intersections across the country at rush hour later today.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm in favor of the disengagement. Strongly in favor. However, I'm also human, and I can respect that it will not be easy for these people who have invested all of their lives in building their homes and communities, creating livelihoods and families, suddenly having to start from scratch. It is natural for them to be upset, as anyone being forced to uproot would be. The government is compensating them for their pain and hardship during this period, as it should. I can even understand those who are hiding their heads in the sand, trying to avoid the inevitable. What I cannot understand or accept are those who believe that their violent acts of opposition (and they are indeed violent) will somehow change destiny, or curry public opinion in their favor. Demonstrations in front of government offices are one thing. Turning a highway into a hazardous obstacle course is simply violence for violence' sake, and nothing more.

I see these youths on television, and it just makes me sick to watch. Complete disrespect and disdain for soldiers and others in positions of authority, and this pales in comparison to their treatment of and attitude towards the local Palestinian population. Obstructing traffic and endangering people on the roads, looking for all the world as if it's a big game. Their smiles and singing as they wreak havoc says it all. Their actions make them no better than the terrorists who blow themselves up in Israeli population centers, preying on innocent victims whose only mistake is to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And, to further the comparison, all you have to do is watch the interviews with the parents, praising their children for standing up and fighting for their beliefs, no matter who gets hurt. What has happened to Israeli society, when parents have pride in their 12 year-old daughters for getting themselves thrown in jail for breaking the law, when mothers stand on the front lines, using their babies as shields? When did we teach our youths that it is okay to hurl verbal and physical abuse at young soldiers, whose only "crime" is serving the state, and often protecting those very same abusers? Who are the real terrorists in this story? We cannot let them get away with their actions. We cannot let their madness win, for then, we will truly be in trouble.